I saw the coverage on tv (burn mother burn) and didnt think it was all bad, just dont let antonio mora and dianne burns banter with each other on channel 2 anymore, shes annoying.

now lets hope we all get sprinklers...i say theyre needed now

I don't like to use the word "spectacular" unless it has a positive connotation, but what I saw of the fire truly was spectacular (negative connotation, but I'm convinced it's the correct use of the word). It was unusual to see fire coming out of a window one minute, then blowing sideways the next. Unbelieveable!

As for Scott's remarks, I agree 100% (and I've had plenty of coffee today). Fortunately, I work for a company that has always given the news the latitude it needs to break into programming as needed. Case in point: the day of the Maytag plant closure announcement two years ago. We went wall-to-wall for what seemed to be 2-hours when city/county/state officials held a press conference saying they wanted to help, not to mention all the react we did that day. People complained (we pre-empted Dr. Laura -- DARN!!!!!), but it was the right thing to do.

I only wish a P.D. in a city with 70-thousand more people than Galesburg would take its local news coverage as seriously as we do here!

For the record...I went to college with Mike Wilson. Good for him in regards to the stand he took -- Columbia College Chicago taught him well!

Now if we can only convince him to join INBA...

Amen!

I covered the fire (my "smokey clothes" are at the dry cleaners). We didn't know for sure until 12:30am that no one had been killed. In fact, there had been rumors circulating that two firefighters had died in the fire.

So, no one died. Does that make the story any less newsworthy? If yes...then, how many deaths does it take to make it newsworthy? One? Six? How about one jumping out a window equals six dead victims inside the building? One dead firefighter equals two dead civilians? Is that enough to make it newsworthy?

Of course, I'm be facetious here. The fact is, the local news media in Chicago did exactly what they are supposed to do...they reported breaking news. When people complained that reporters "kept saying the same thing over and over again", they were forgetting that not all viewers/listeners were tuned in for the entire duration of the fire. Viewers/listeners come and go...you have to keep the new consumers updated.

I may be biased in my assessment...but I think we did just fine Monday night.

Steve Scott
WLS-AM